When I joined The Daily Princetonian’s Opinion section in January, I already knew the title of the first piece that I wanted to write: “Why can’t lecturers win the President’s Award for Distinguished Teaching?” As I conclude my time as an Opinion writer, I am incredibly pleased to say: Now, they can.
In a recent email to all students, the Office of the Dean of the Faculty called for nominations to the 2026 award, which is given to four faculty members each year at Commencement. This year’s email noted that full-time lecturers are eligible for nomination.
Allowing lecturers to win the award is an important step in the right direction towards recognition for their hard work. But, for them to win the award, it is on students to nominate the outstanding lecturers that have taught them.
Lecturers make up the majority of non-tenure-track faculty at Princeton. Unlike those in a professorial rank, lecturers have no formal research duties and focus on teaching. They also do not have the privilege and security of academic tenure, even after lengthy terms of service.
But lecturers are indispensable to undergraduate teaching at Princeton. The University’s 272 lecturers form 21 percent of non-visiting faculty, and lecturers often serve as instructors for both popular and mandatory classes at Princeton, like MAT 202 and ECO 100, as well as practically every language class and writing seminar. It is vanishingly unlikely that an undergraduate will not be taught by a lecturer during their time at Princeton.
The stated purpose of the award is to honor faculty who have a “sustained record of distinguished achievement in undergraduate and/or graduate teaching at Princeton.” Effective this year, though, lecturers are able to win the award “in recognition of their contribution to the educational mission of the University,” University spokesperson Jennifer Morrill told me in an email. It is heartening that the University is willing to recognize the key contribution of lecturers — but we, as students, also need to do our part by nominating them.
The nomination letters that students send carry considerable weight in the selection process of the award. In January, Morrill told me that winners of the award “tend to have extraordinarily detailed letters from students and former students that demonstrate the impact the teaching has had on them both at Princeton and beyond.” Moreover, Morrill noted that “faculty can be renominated year after year, and that also has an impact on the chances of eventually winning the award since the selection committee sees the previous nominations.”
Thus, although lecturers are now eligible to win the award, they will not have the repertoire of previous nominations that other candidates may possess. If students want to see the lecturers who have gone above and beyond recognized for their efforts, they will need to start sending letters now.
Of course, I also encourage my peers to nominate their outstanding instructors who were previously eligible for the award. Professorial faculty who work to innovate in teaching and excel in advising especially deserve recognition for their superlative efforts.
As I end my fifth semester at Princeton, I continue to reap the benefits of the excellent teaching my lecturers imparted on me starting in my first semester. As I have written before, lecturers have significantly advanced Princeton’s accessibility goals by providing students with greater support when they need it, and they frequently go the extra mile through their office hours, extensive feedback, and commitment to improving their pedagogy. All these efforts deserve University-wide recognition.
Nominations for the award are due to the Office of the Dean of the Faculty (padt[at]princeton.edu) by Feb. 6, 2026. I will be sending in my nominations for my favorite lecturers and other faculty, and I hope you will too.
Jerry Zhu is a junior in Economics who serves as the guest Opinion editor of The Daily Princetonian. He encourages you to submit a response to this piece or write an op-ed for the ‘Prince.’ You can reach him at jfz[at]princeton.edu.
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